Just posted a number of very nice shells on <a href="http://www.onlineauction.com" target="_blank"><!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.onlineauction.com">www.onlineauction.com</a><!-- w --></a>

I always get confused with CITES policies. Â I have tridacna and I had no idea they were on CITES. Â But they are 30+ years old. Â Is it still illegal to purchase or sell if they were purchased/collected before they were on CITES?

According to their species list all Tridacna species are in Appendix ii see webpage:
<a href="http://www.cites.org/eng/app/index.shtml" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cites.org/eng/app/index.shtml">http://www.cites.org/eng/app/index.shtml</a><!-- m --></a>
as far as I can make out this means you need an export permit from them and sometimes an import one too. I find the whole CITES set-up extremely confusing and sometimes ridiculous, some of the insect species that are in appendix i and ii are not in the least threatened, in fact some are being farmed. I and a lot of colleagues of mine are all of the opinion that, apart from the vertebrate protection which is a joke at times, CITES is just a PR exercise.